Max Lucado Daily: A PURPOSEFUL PAUSE
It took a purposeful pause to pull me out of a spiritual desert! Standing in our new church building before a beaming congregation, I was thinking, I should be thrilled. Instead I was hollow and mechanical. A friend noticed and convinced me to do what I’m urging you to do—that is, clarify my sweet spot. Renewal began when I paused on purpose.
Do you sense a disconnect between your design and daily duties? God may want you to leave but you’re staying. How can you know unless you mute the crowd and meet with Jesus in a deserted place? He says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus “often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16). Why don’t you press the ‘pause button’ so you can contemplate the work of God.
Read more Cure for the Common Life
Joshua 24
The Covenant at Shechem
Joshua called together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He called in the elders, chiefs, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God. Then Joshua addressed all the people:
2-6 “This is what God, the God of Israel, says: A long time ago your ancestors, Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor, lived to the east of the River Euphrates. They worshiped other gods. I took your ancestor Abraham from the far side of The River. I led him all over the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac. Then I gave Isaac Jacob and Esau. I let Esau have the mountains of Seir as home, but Jacob and his sons ended up in Egypt. I sent Moses and Aaron. I hit Egypt hard with plagues and then led you out of there. I brought your ancestors out of Egypt. You came to the sea, the Egyptians in hot pursuit with chariots and cavalry, to the very edge of the Red Sea!
7-10 “Then they cried out for help to God. He put a cloud between you and the Egyptians and then let the sea loose on them. It drowned them.
“You watched the whole thing with your own eyes, what I did to Egypt. And then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. I brought you to the country of the Amorites, who lived east of the Jordan, and they fought you. But I fought for you and you took their land. I destroyed them for you. Then Balak son of Zippor made his appearance. He was the king of Moab. He got ready to fight Israel by sending for Balaam son of Beor to come and curse you. But I wouldn’t listen to Balaam—he ended up blessing you over and over! I saved you from him.
11 “You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The Jericho leaders ganged up on you as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but I turned them over to you.
12 “I sent the Hornet ahead of you. It drove out the two Amorite kings—did your work for you. You didn’t have to do a thing, not so much as raise a finger.
13 “I handed you a land for which you did not work, towns you did not build. And here you are now living in them and eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.
14 “So now: Fear God. Worship him in total commitment. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped on the far side of The River (the Euphrates) and in Egypt. You, worship God.
15 “If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.”
16 The people answered, “We’d never forsake God! Never! We’d never leave God to worship other gods.
17-18 “God is our God! He brought up our ancestors from Egypt and from slave conditions. He did all those great signs while we watched. He has kept his eye on us all along the roads we’ve traveled and among the nations we’ve passed through. Just for us he drove out all the nations, Amorites and all, who lived in the land.
“Count us in: We too are going to worship God. He’s our God.”
19-20 Then Joshua told the people: “You can’t do it; you’re not able to worship God. He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won’t put up with your fooling around and sinning. When you leave God and take up the worship of foreign gods, he’ll turn right around and come down on you hard. He’ll put an end to you—and after all the good he has done for you!”
21 But the people told Joshua: “No! No! We worship God!”
22 And so Joshua addressed the people: “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen God for yourselves—to worship him.”
And they said, “We are witnesses.”
23 Joshua said, “Now get rid of all the foreign gods you have with you. Say an unqualified Yes to God, the God of Israel.”
24 The people answered Joshua, “We will worship God. What he says, we’ll do.”
25-26 Joshua completed a Covenant for the people that day there at Shechem. He made it official, spelling it out in detail. Joshua wrote out all the directions and regulations into the Book of The Revelation of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak that was in the holy place of God.
27 Joshua spoke to all the people: “This stone is a witness against us. It has heard every word that God has said to us. It is a standing witness against you lest you cheat on your God.”
28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his own place of inheritance.
29-30 After all this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of God, died. He was 110 years old. They buried him in the land of his inheritance at Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31 Israel served God through the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had themselves experienced all that God had done for Israel.
32 Joseph’s bones, which the People of Israel had brought from Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the plot of ground that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor (who was the father of Shechem). He paid a hundred silver coins for it. It belongs to the inheritance of the family of Joseph.
33 Eleazar son of Aaron died. They buried him at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the mountains of Ephraim.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Read: 2 Corinthians 4:8–18
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self[a] is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 4:16 Greek man
INSIGHT
Through the cross we see God’s loving payment for our sin. But it teaches us more. Jesus’s suffering also exposed the nature and cruelty of our sin against Him and against humanity. He endured the worst we could do to Him to expose Satan’s lie that our Creator isn’t as good as He says He is. He even suffered unimaginable wrongs to show us how to love those who hurt us.
What else does God want to teach us about cross-shaped love and what it can do in us and for others? -Mart DeHaan
Through the Cross
By Anne Cetas
[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:39
My coworker Tom keeps an 8? by 12? glass cross on his desk. His friend Phil, who like Tom is a cancer survivor, gave it to him to help him look at everything “through the cross.” The glass cross is a constant reminder of God’s love and good purposes for him.
That’s a challenging idea for all believers in Jesus, especially during difficult times. It’s much easier to focus on our problems than on God’s love.
The apostle Paul’s life was certainly an example of having a cross-shaped perspective. He described himself in times of suffering as being “persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:9). He believed that in the hard times, God is at work, “achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen” (vv. 17–18).
To “fix our eyes . . . on what is unseen” doesn’t mean we minimize the problems. Paul Barnett, in his commentary on this passage, explains, “There is to be confidence, based on the certainty of God’s purposes for [us] . . . . On the other hand, there is the sober recognition that we groan with hope mingled with pain.”
Jesus gave His life for us. His love is deep and sacrificial. As we look at life “through the cross,” we see His love and faithfulness. And our trust in Him grows.
Father, teach us who You are. Increase our trust in You. Fill our minds with Your perspective.
Look at everything through the cross.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, July 19, 2018
The Submission of the Believer
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. —John 13:13
Our Lord never insists on having authority over us. He never says, “You will submit to me.” No, He leaves us perfectly free to choose— so free, in fact, that we can spit in His face or we can put Him to death, as others have done; and yet He will never say a word. But once His life has been created in me through His redemption, I instantly recognize His right to absolute authority over me. It is a complete and effective domination, in which I acknowledge that “You are worthy, O Lord…” (Revelation 4:11). It is simply the unworthiness within me that refuses to bow down or to submit to one who is worthy. When I meet someone who is more holy than myself, and I don’t recognize his worthiness, nor obey his instructions for me, it is a sign of my own unworthiness being revealed. God teaches us by using these people who are a little better than we are; not better intellectually, but more holy. And He continues to do so until we willingly submit. Then the whole attitude of our life is one of obedience to Him.
If our Lord insisted on our obedience, He would simply become a taskmaster and cease to have any real authority. He never insists on obedience, but when we truly see Him we will instantly obey Him. Then He is easily Lord of our life, and we live in adoration of Him from morning till night. The level of my growth in grace is revealed by the way I look at obedience. We should have a much higher view of the word obedience, rescuing it from the mire of the world. Obedience is only possible between people who are equals in their relationship to each other; like the relationship between father and son, not that between master and servant. Jesus showed this relationship by saying, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). The Son was obedient as our Redeemer, because He was the Son, not in order to become God’s Son.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people, and never get out of touch with human beings, if we are going to use the word of God skilfully amongst them. Workmen of God, 1341 L
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Looking Forward to the Report - #8224
I don't know if there was ever a time in our son's life when he checked the mailbox so many times. Now I know what you're thinking-a letter from a girl, right? No, it was grades from college. See, this was during our son's last visit home when he was going to college, and the grades for the semester just completed were supposed to be mailed to him at home. Well, it got a little frustrating and as he talked with all his college friends, they were telling him in other parts of the country, that they already had their grades. And every day that they didn't come, he got a little more frustrated. Now why was he so eager to get his grades? He had every reason to believe he had done very well this time. And finally, they came. Best grades by far since he started college, the Dean's List! High fives all around, baby!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Looking Forward to the Report."
Our word for today from the Word of God - we're in 2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight," Paul says. "I have finished the race. I have kept the faith, and now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." Man, here's a follower of Jesus who is looking forward to seeing Jesus. He says, I'm longing for His appearing. See, he's expecting a good report. He's looking forward to his grades from God. How about you?
First John 2:28 talks about two reactions when Jesus comes. It says, "Abide in Him so that you will be confident, and not ashamed when He appears." So I guess some people are going to be confident when they see Jesus. They're looking forward to it. Why? Well, you have been living all along for the things that matter forever, so you'll be stepping into everything that you invested your life in when you see Jesus. You've been making your relationship with Jesus the number one priority of your life, your energy, so seeing Him will be just the glorious continuation and fulfillment of what you've been doing here. Those who are really living for Jesus are the ones who are really looking for Jesus.
But, then it says you might be ashamed when He comes. Maybe you're feeling like that, not now...no, no, not yet Lord. When you see Him, it will be no, not now, not yet! I'm not ready! Because you've stuffed eternal things into the corners of your life. You've been busy building an "earth empire", stuff, people, achievements. In just one single moment, you will know the truth of those often repeated words "only one life t'will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last."
You'll be ashamed because you don't know Jesus better. You were too busy to invest much in that relationship...ashamed because of the junk in your life...junk that actually helped kill your Savior. And now, here He is. Those who are neglecting Jesus, hurting Jesus are dreading seeing Him. It's not a report card to look forward to. And then, will there be anybody in heaven because of you when Jesus comes?
Paul said he was looking forward to his joy and crown in heaven-the people who would be there that he had reached for Christ. See, here's some good news-the final grades aren't in yet. There's still time to change your report card. It begins by asking God to forgive you for the wasted time, the upside down priorities, the missed opportunities, the unrepented sin.
And then, pledge to your Savior who you will see soon, from this day onward Jesus, I'm going to live for what lasts. I want to be loving you. I want to be living for you. I want to be getting rid of what hurts you. I want to be telling people about you.
See, it's wonderful to be looking forward to being on the "King's List." The ones to whom He will say, "Well done. Come and share your Master's happiness."
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